Installation of operating systems, firmware, and other software component packages onto target devices often presents challenges with respect to computer security and system efficiency. For example, operating system installations and upgrades of a target server within a computer network may take hours of server downtime complete. Such installation process may be complicated further by multiple operating system versions and configuration options that may be applied to different servers within a network. As a result, operators of target environments, especially highly secure computer networks, may be reluctant to keep the operating systems and other software packages of their servers up-to-date, in order to reduce critical downtime or other network issues associated with the server installations and updates. On the other hand, failing to keep operating systems, firmware, or other software packages current and up-to-date may expose the network to unacceptable security risks and performance issues.
Network-based software installations are often used to install operating systems and other software packages, perform upgrades, and install security patches on target devices. For example, when installing an operating system upgrade onto a target server within a computer network, an automated installer (AI) server may be used to perform to upgrade. In such cases, the target server may connect to the AI server via one or more local networks and public networks (e.g., the Internet) an initiate the executable automated installation components within the AI server, which may handle operating system upgrade on the target server.
Alternatively, software installations may be performed manually by individual target devices using compact disks (CDs) or digital versatile disk (DVDs) containing the new software packages and the AI components to perform the installation. For example, when a target server resides on a private and/or secure computer network, and cannot access an AI server over a public network to receive the software installation, an operator of the target server may use manual installation via software CDs or DVDs.